Airtel, MTN Become Most Valuable in Nigerian Exchange
Telecom companies, Airtel Africa and MTN Nigeria Plc have gained popularity among stock market value hunters with golden gains recorded in the past week following their respective earnings beats.
The telecom stocks have shifted position among market movers ranking in the local bourse on account of healthy earnings performance helped by improved fundamentals. In the past, Dangote Cement used to be the most valuable on the Nigerian Exchange these mightiest telecom stocks encroached into its space from being merely challengers.
At the close of the trading session on Friday, MTN Nigeria has gained strongly, riding on its recent popularity among investors to become the second largest by market capitalisation. Popped by about 20%, MTN Nigeria is now valued at N4.478 trillion, while Dangote Cement Plc comes at N4.469 trillion.
Now, telecom companies have gained strong enough to become the mightiest listed on the local bourse. As of Friday, MTN Nigeria’s share price printed at N220 with more than 20.354 billion outstanding shares. The telecom share gained N20 or 10% in the last seven trading sessions.
Following an announcement to repurchase another 10% of its own share, Dangote cement has been trading flat. The cement company unit was priced at N262.30 in the local bourse with 17.040 billion outstanding shares. READ: 8 out of 10 most valuable stocks record negative return
Airtel Africa was priced at N1,488 in the stock market in the last booming buying interest on value, growth stocks by value hunters in the domestic bourse. The telecom operator market valuation inched upward to N5.592 trillion with a total of 3.758 billion outstanding shares. In the last seven trading sessions, Airtel Africa share gained N138 or 10.22%.
Valued at N2.607 trillion, BUA Cement was sold at N77 as the share price dropped despite the reported gaining streaks in the local bourse. For the week, the cement company’s performance was unimpressive, falling from N79.
BUA Cement, a member of Nigerian cement oligarchs has 33.864 outstanding shares ready for picks, compared with 17.040 billion by Dangote cement. In terms of the size of their respective market capitalisation, BUA is less than 60% of Dangote Cement in the stock market.
The fact is that the stock market has been heated up, forcing Nestle Nigeria out of space as the consumer goods behemoth fell out of trillion naira gangs. Nestle Nigeria has lost N436.1 on each of its 792.656 million outstanding shares in the stock market from its peak price of N1,400.
Now, the company can be bought for N764 billion in the Nigerian stock market. #Airtel, MTN Become Most Valuable in Nigerian Exchange
